Metal and Ash (Apex Trilogy)

by Jake Bible

“Gotcha,” Mathew said, raising a thumb. He looked at it cross-eyed then focused. “One thumb, right?”

  “One thumb,” Rachel said, planting a kiss on his cheek. “Come on, dippy.”

  Mathew kept one hand on Themopolous’s shoulder as they followed closely behind Rachel who had her carbine ready, sweeping from left to right in the gloomy corridor.

  “Not much for twists and turns in this place,” Mathew said. “Has it been a straight shot the whole way?”

  “Yes,” Rachel replied. “It’s leading us to the center.”

  “Then what?” Mathew asked.

  “Fuck if I know, Matty,” Rachel said.

  “It’s getting warmer,” Themopolous noted. “We must be getting close.”

  Tell them to stay there.

  “What?” Rachel asked.

  Tell them to stay right there. They can’t go any further. What is beyond the door is not for them. They need to go back outside.

  “What door?”

  “Is that her?” Mathew asked and got a stern look for his effort. “Right. Sorry.”

  Keep going and you’ll see the door. Only you can go inside. They won’t be able handle the energy the generator puts off.

  “And I can?” Rachel asked.

  I hope so.

  “Fucking great.” Rachel turned and looked at Mathew and Themopolous. “You have to wait here. I can’t take you with me.”

  “Bullshit!” Mathew shouted. “I can’t let you go alone. What happens if something goes wrong?”

  Rachel stepped forward and kissed him gently. “I love you.”

  “I love you too,” Mathew said as he gripped her arm. “Which is why you aren’t going alone.”

  “Why can’t we go in?” Themopolous asked. “What’s the threat?”

  “The energy levels,” Rachel said. “They’ll be lethal.”

  Themopolous watched Rachel closely. Their eyes met and an understanding was passed between them.

  “Fine,” Themopolous nodded. “We’ll wait out here. Be safe.”

  “What?!” Mathew cried. “We aren’t waiting anywhere!”

  Rachel pulled her arm away and Mathew staggered.

  “You can barely stand, Matty,” Rachel said. “You two should get outside. There may be some blowback that could harm you.”

  “Come on,” Themopolous said, lifting Mathew’s arm over her shoulder. She handed him her sidearm. “I keep you steady, you keep the pistol steady. We may run into trouble on the way out.”

  “Fuck this,” Mathew swore as he glared at Rachel. “You come out of this alive, hear me?”

  “I will,” Rachel nodded then turned towards the door she couldn’t see. She took about six steps then disappeared.

  “What the fuck?” Mathew gasped. “Rachel!” Themopolous held him and kept him from following.

  “Come on, Mathew,” Themopolous said. “We have to go.”

  “This fucking blows,” Mathew protested, but that was all he had strength for. “Fucking blows.”

  ***

  The generator room was small. Rachel was expecting a cavernous space with machines reaching far into the air. But instead she was greeted with a room about the size of her father’s office at the Stronghold. In the center was a metal box firmly bolted to a concrete pedestal.

  “A little anticlimactic,” Rachel muttered. “I was sure I’d see a few more gears and shit.”

  Reduced nuclear fusion. It isn’t used anymore because of the instability. But once it was put in place and turned on it couldn’t be turned off.

  “Not without taking out most of the wasteland, right?”

  Right.

  “So now what?”

  Put your hands on the box.

  “What about security?”

  There isn’t any.

  “Are you sure?”

  No.

  “Great.”

  Rachel took a deep breath and placed her hands on the box. Instantly she could feel energy seep from the box and vibrate up her arms. “Tickles.”

  That’s good.

  The vibration increased and the tickling stopped. Shooting pains started to stab their way through Rachel’s forearms. “Not so tickly anymore!”

  I was afraid of that. Listen. I am going to have to connect with you mentally.

  “What the fuck are we doing now?”

  Talking. I mean I am going to have to actually combine our consciousnesses. Rachel and Beth may stop for a moment and be a new being. Relax and go with it. We’ll be fine.

  “That’s a crock of shit.”

  I know.

  “It’s gonna hurt, isn’t it?”

  Probably.

  “Fucking great.”

  Ready?

  “No.”

  Me neither.

  Rachel closed her eyes and let go. She could feel Beth’s presence increase. It surprised her, the familiarity that came with Beth’s consciousness. It wasn’t quite like thinking into a mirror, but Beth seemed to fit as if she belonged.

  But it was a tight fit.

  You okay?

  “I can handle this. Now what.”

  Can you feel the reactor inside?

  “That’s a reactor? Like nuclear?”

  Yes.

  “Yeah, I can feel it. You weren’t kidding about the instability. It’s all over the place.”

  All you have to do is concentrate on the physical connection to it. I’ll do the manipulations.

  “What if the shield doesn’t come down?”

  It has to.

  “What if it doesn’t?”

  It has to.

  “Ok. Noted.”

  Rachel focused on her hands, making sure they had a solid grip on the box while Beth moved through Rachel’s mind and into the reactor within the box.

  Trillions upon trillions of reactions occurred every single millisecond. Beth’s consciousness could only interpret the reactions as light and she was grateful. The actual power contained inside the box was enough to match the Sun. If she was sucked too far into the reality of the energy she would be lost in the reactor forever.

  I’m starting.

  “What? Just now? Move some ass, girl.”

  You remind me of my friend Mel.

  Rachel was instantly inundated with thoughts, memories, impressions of Melissa Bretton.

  “Nah. She’s way more like Harlow. Trust me. Those two would get along great.”

  Beth was in turn almost overwhelmed with Rachel’s thoughts/memories/impressions of Harlow.

  Whoa. We better focus. I nearly lost touch with the reactor.

  “Then stop the chit chat and get this shit done.”

  Ok. Noted.

  The reactions began to speed up as Beth manipulated their direction and interactions. The energy given off built and built. Rachel could feel the added energy and her hands started to singe.

  “It’s doing something, but not in a good way.”

  It’ll get worse before it gets better.

  “Great.”

  The reactions doubled, trebled and then starting multiplying exponentially. Rachel’s head jerked back and her spine nearly snapped as she became directly jacked into the power.

  Don’t let go!

  “I’m…not…just…hurry.”

  Beth pushed herself, sending their mind deep into the generator until she hit the core. The core was where it all started, where every single reaction began and ended even though the reactions were separate unto themselves. It was a paradox that created an energy source that could stay fueled for millions of years, but could also stop dead in the blink of an eye.

  Made of a substance that no sane scientist would ever use again, the core appeared to Beth to be a series of constant implosions. She felt that she would easily get sucked into the implosions if she didn’t pay attention, so she tried to shove them from her mind and keep all focus on the physical mass that was the core.

  A grain of sand. That was all it was. A grain of sand.

  Beth carefully manipulate
d the core and shifted its structure just enough that the implosions ceased. Unfortunately, that lead to a trillion infinitesimal explosions and Beth shifted her attack to contain those. With each explosion the core depleted itself of energy and Beth knew she was close.

  “Can’t hang on much longer.”

  Just a few more seconds.

  “Fuck.”

  Beth sent the explosions into each other, each sucking the fuel from the other as they connected. The generator started to lose its strength and both Rachel and Beth could feel the difference. They could also feel the intense instability that the power-down process created.

  “This isn’t going to hold.”

  Beth didn’t respond as she kept working.

  “Are you listening?”

  Just a few more seconds.

  Rachel said a prayer, her thoughts with those she loved. With her consciousness wrapped in with Rachel’s, Beth couldn’t help but say a prayer also. The last manipulation was finished and Beth gave a mental sigh.

  It’ll completely power-down on its own now.

  “But?”

  How do you know there’s a but?

  “You can’t feel the but? I fucking can.”

  You’re right. Let go.

  “Of the box?”

  No. Of yourself. Let go right now. Just let go. You have maybe a second.

  “What? What are you talking-?”

  No fucking time to explain! Let Go NOW!

  ***

  The concrete rumbled slightly then settled, making Themopolous and Mathew look back over their shoulders.

  “Good or bad?” Mathew asked.

  “I don’t know,” Themopolous answered. “I’m not an engineer.”

  A flash at the far end of the corridor made them shield their eyes. Then before either of them could brace themselves a shockwave sent them flying. They tumbled in the air and slammed into the pile of bodies that Rachel had made of the security creatures.

  Themopolous gasped for air as she struggled to free herself from the oozing corpses that she’d been half-buried in. Mathew was already climbing over the top and he reached down to her. She took his hand and he pulled her up over the pile, tears in his eyes.

  “She’s not coming out is she?” Mathew asked as they helped each other limp towards the corridor entrance. ‘”Is she?”

  “I don’t think so,” Themopolous answered.

  “You said someone could help her if we did this,” Mathew snapped. “Was that all bullshit just like everything else about you?”

  “No,” Themopolous said as they kept moving to the way out. “There is someone that can help. We just have to get to the Amer-.”

  A second flash erupted behind them and the shockwave that hit them was filled with concrete and fire.

  Forty

  Fed, clean and clothed, but still slightly confused, Dog and Jenny followed everyone back into the Eden control room. Ready for a full demonstration.

  “This is Eden,” Talaria smiled. “This is what we have been working towards.”

  The Mayor slapped Dog on the back as he walked to a chair set in the middle of the room. It was set behind row after row of vid screens and workstations. On the wall in front were close to twenty large vid screens with everything from random vid feeds to audio analysis showing wavy lines as sound was picked up from who knew where.

  “How did you get all of this?” Jenny asked as she looked at some of the equipment. “This doesn’t look UDC?”

  “We built it,” the Mayor said proudly. “You saw how we power Eden, did you think we didn’t have the brains to build anything else?”

  “What is all of that?” Dog asked as he pointed to the large vid screens.

  “The wasteland,” Talaria replied as she took a seat at one of the few empty workstations. Most were occupied with techs tapping away at their keyboards and speaking into coms. “Up close and personal.”

  Dog studied a vid screen that showed a shaky image of nothing but shambling deaders. “How are you getting that?”

  “We tag them and send them on their way,” the Mayor said. “We have vid cams imbedded in hundreds of deaders across the wasteland.”

  “Thousands,” Agnatha corrected. “Plus data and com relays. We have the entire wasteland wired for audio and vid.”

  “Relays?” Jenny asked. “So you can communicate pretty much anywhere?”

  “Within reason,” the Mayor shrugged. “But, yes, pretty much anywhere.”

  “I want to talk to my train,” Jenny insisted.

  “Herschel?” the Mayor asked and a tech stood up and brought Jenny a com.

  “Uh, thanks,” she said as she slipped it into her ear and activated it. “Hey, Marcus? Can you hear me?”

  “Jenny!” Marcus replied instantly. “Jeezus! We have been scanning every channel hoping to hear from you! What happened? Why aren’t you calling from your mech?”

  “It’s out of commission,” Jenny said as she made no attempt to hide her glare directed at the Mayor. “But the Roo-…uh, Dog and I are fine.”

  “Dog?”

  “Don’t ask,” Jenny sighed. “It’s been a total shit couple of days.”

  “Want to see something even shittier?” the Mayor smiled. “Watch this.”

  He flipped a switch and the vid screens showed thousands of deaders on the move; another showed a smoking wreck of the Monterey shield generator; a third showed a mass of gleaming BC mechs marching their way across the wasteland; a fourth showed a distant view of the Pacific ocean as ships began to appear on the horizon.

  Jenny was stunned by what she saw.

  “Jenny?” Marcus called. “Hey, you still there?”

  “Yeah…yeah, I’m still here,” Jenny replied. “Sit tight. I’ll call with more instructions soon. Get everyone ready.”

  “For what?”

  “For Hell, is my guess.”

  ***

  “Cyces?” Dog asked as he and Jenny were shown into a massive garage. “Like motorcycles?”

  “Well, sure,” a mechanic named Kerry replied. “But where’s the fun in calling them that?”

  The machine before Dog was waist high with large, fat tires front and back. The handle bars, as well as the entire front end, were encased in a protective shield that curved up high and back, giving the rider some protection from the elements. It was made of a dark black glass that was completely opaque from the front, but transparent from the seat.

  “Are those…?” Dog asked.

  “M85 mini-guns,” Kerry smiled. He patted the min-guns affectionately. “Guaranteed to never overheat or misfire.”

  “Never?” Jenny laughed. “Not possible.”

  The four other mechanics in the Eden hangar all glared.

  “We don’t build shit,” Kerry stated. “What’s the fucking point in that?”

  “So you just hop on and go?” Dog asked.

  “Not that easy, but yes,” Kerry nodded. He pointed to the handle grips. “Acceleration. Brakes. Weapons. Com. All just a finger press away at all times.” He grabbed a helmet that rested on the seat and handed it to Dog. “Put that on.”

  Dog slowly slid the helmet on, a feeling of claustrophobia gripping him briefly. Kerry flipped a switch on the cyce and an entire data readout came to life on the inside of the helmet’s visor.

  “”You see everything, you hear everything,” Kerry said. “The visor tracks your eye movements and responds to voice commands. You work it without even knowing it.”

  “Why have you people been hiding here all this time?” Jenny asked. “This tech could have been useful out in the real world.”

  “Because,” the Mayor said as he joined them in the hangar. “I knew the world out there wasn’t going to last long. That’s why I built Eden and that is why we focused on our society and our tech.” The Mayor fixed Jenny with a powerful gaze. “The deaders have never been the threat. It’s the people you have to watch out for. Now those people are playing their hands.”

  “So what now?”
Dog asked. “We ride off into battle?” Dog laughed as he looked about at the handful of cyces in the hangar. “We don’t have the numbers.”

  The Mayor pointed up as the mechanics all grinned. Dog and Jenny looked above themselves and gasped.

  “One cyce for every person in Eden,” the Mayor said. “Only way to be sure.”

  The main door to the cyce hangar lifted and Dog and Jenny squinted against the light. A few dozen cyces came rushing in. The one in the lead slid to a stop just feet from Dog. The rider took her helmet off and grinned.

  “Hey cuz!” Immy beamed. “I hear you’re gonna be the next mayor. Fucking great!”

  “Immy,” the Mayor frowned. “You don’t have to be crude.”

  “Ah, he doesn’t mind, do ya, cuz?”

  “Uh, no, it’s cool,” Dog said.

  “Great! Grab a helmet!” Immy said looking at Kerry. “You got him a cyce?”

  “Yep,” Kerry nodded patting the one they’d been observing. “All set.”

  “Then hop on, cuz,” Immy smiled. “Time for a couple lessons. You’re gonna love this! Way more freedom than those big, clunky mechs!”

  ***

  “You’re sure about this?” Marcus asked over the com.

  “Dog is sure,” Jenny said as she watched Dog on a vid screen in the control room. He was busy being embarrassed by his young cousin. “I’m being a bit more cautious.”

  “Where do you want us to meet?”

  “Same location as where you dropped me off,” Jenny said, having to smile as Dog biffed it and his cyce went out from under him. “I’m sending you a shit ton of data. Start going over it. I need you and everyone else up to speed by the time I get there. What we are about to do will not be easy.”

  “No fucking shit,” Marcus laughed. “We’ll be ready when you get here.”

  “Sounds good,” Jenny said.

  She watched Dog practice with the cyce and nodded in approval as he got the hang of it. In just minutes he was matching Immy turn for turn, move for move. Jenny was happy that he finally found some family that wasn’t hell bent on killing or eating him.

  Forty-One

  “They took it down,” a tech said, getting Norton’s attention.

  “The shield?” Norton smiled. “How crafty of them. Wasn’t sure they could do it.”